Healthful Sports for Boys Part 16

You must skate straightaway until you have gained sufficient headway, then at the end of the last stroke turn the toes out so that the runners of your skates make a straight line, heel to heel, one skate following the other. In this position you will glide over the ice until the momentum first gained is exhausted. At first the beginner will be only partially successful, but gradually he will be able to describe a wide circle forward, and in a little while gain sufficient control of his feet to slide across the skating pond in a straight line.

The spread eagle backward will be found more difficult, for it necessitates turning the toes out until they point backward. In performing this last feat, it is no easy matter to keep your balance, but perfection comes with practice, and soon the boy who devotes time to practice will excite the admiration of his comrades by the ease with which he turns either forward or backward. During his practice the beginner will undoubtedly bend his knees, but after he has reached that point of excellence where his whole mind need not be centered on his feet, he may learn gradually to straighten his legs until at last he can do the spread eagle forward and backward without looking like a straddle bug.

A ring can be made without lifting your skates from the ice. This is called a spread-eagle circle, and it is cut by spreading the feet. The skater must learn to keep his feet moving, first the right foot forward and the left foot back, then the left foot forward and right foot back, always with toes turned out spread-eagle fas.h.i.+on. When properly done, this motion will cause the skater to glide around in a circle, his feet moving in a most bewildering manner, while they weave a pretty grape-vine pattern on the ice.

It would take a volume properly to tell all the possibilities of skating, and the ice games, like s.h.i.+nny, and curling. But the boy who can manage the movements already indicated will be sure to learn by himself the more advanced art of this fine sport.

SNOW SHOES

are not so well known in the United States as in Canada and throughout the St. Lawrence valley.

Snow shoes are shaped very much like tennis rackets, and are made in much the same way and of much the same material. They are from thirty to thirty-six inches in length, and about one-third that in width. The broad point is to the front, and some eight inches back of this the foot is fastened by means of straps to the front and sides. The framework can be of light willow or strong rattan. The meshes should be closer than in a racket, and the best are made of water-proofed rawhide.

It requires much practice to become expert in the use of the snow shoe; but once the skill is acquired, twice the distance, over soft snow, can be made in the day, as compared with the average foot man on ordinary ground.

Without snow shoes, winter travel would be well nigh impossible over large areas of British North America. We are indebted to the Indians for this valuable aid to locomotion.

SKIING

p.r.o.nounced in Norwegian "sheeting"--is the great winter sport of the Norwegians and Swedes. The sport is fast being introduced into this country and is gaining in popularity in every place where the two requisites--snow and a long, steep hill--can be had.

The ski is a strip of ash or spruce wood, turned up in front like a sled runner, and smooth and straight grained. The length varies from six to ten feet, the width from three to four inches, and the thickness from. a third to three-fourths of an inch.

The strap, attached by screws to the middle of the ski, is fastened over the toe part of the foot, leaving the heel free to rise and fall.

Skies are hard to manage going up hill, but on a level of soft snow a great pace can be kept up. But it is in going down hill, and leaping from a "jounce" that the skier is at his best. It is not unusual for experts to jump one hundred and twenty feet from rise to fall.

CHAPTER XXIII

COASTING; SLEDS OF MANY KINDS--THE TOBOGGAN

Long before the strong, light, machine-made sled was put on the market or even thought of, the American boy was his own sled-maker, and if this sled was not so sightly, it certainly got there as effectively as does its modern rival.

The best of the old-time sleds were made by cutting down a small oak, beech, or maple tree that had a promising curve at the root. This was dressed, then sawed down the middle, so as to make the two runners.

Through each runner six holes were bored from the top, each pair of holes about two inches apart. Into the holes were driven wooden pegs to hold the three benches. The pegs were long enough to go through the two stringers that ran in line with the runners. Over this the frame was laid. The bottoms of the runners, when the material could be had, were shod with thick hoop iron, the nails being counter-sunk. In the center curve of the runners, holes were bored for the drawing rope, and all was ready for the snow.

A quicker way was to saw out the proper length for runners from an inch, hardwood board, curve the fronts by means of a draw-knife, then connect the runners by braces, and cover with a frame of lighter material. These sleds, when shod at the blacksmith shop with half- curved iron shoes, were things to delight in, and two of them, properly hitched, made a fine "bob."

The bob sled is superior in every way to the old long sled which delighted the grandfathers of the present boys. The old-fas.h.i.+oned sleds were steered by the boy in front kicking with his heels on the frozen snow, or the boy at the stern by dragging one foot behind as a rudder. This answers very well for the common sled, but when the sled is seven, eight, or ten feet long, and loaded underneath with pig iron to give it weight, the boy in front who steers has a difficult and exceedingly dangerous task, especially if the hill is steep and icy; and it is next to impossible to steer such a craft from the stern by dragging one foot behind.

The double-runner is much lighter and very much easier to steer on account of the front sled being arranged so that it can be moved independently of the rear sled, for a turn to the right or the left causes the "bob" to take the direction indicated by the front runners; but double-runners steered with a wheel, lever or yoke in front, are very dangerous, as the steersman, in case of an accident, is thrown against the steering apparatus, usually with serious results.

The safety double-runner does away with serious results, having a bridle with which it is steered. It also does away with the danger of collision by having an automatic brake that will stop it, in times of danger, within the distance of its own length. These are qualities which will be appreciated by all who "slide down hill," as we called it when I was a lad, or who are fond of coasting, as our school- readers called it then, and as every one calls it now.

Double-runners, or bob sleds, can be made at home, but the work requires so much varied material, so many tools, and so much skill that I shall not tell how the thing is done. A number of boys, who desire to own a bob sled in partners.h.i.+p, can have the work done by a wagon-maker, who knows just how, and has all the material to hand.

Such sleds, and they are usually well made, can be purchased at reasonable prices and of any size from establishments that deal in such articles. These can be found in any of our large cities. The safe and sane sled, for the ordinary youngster, and the average hill, is that which has a capacity for two--one is still better--and which is steered by sitting astern and keeping one leg back to act as a runner.

TOBOGGANING

The toboggan is much used in Canada, where the Indians taught the first whites how to make and use it, and has become popular in the northern states, particularly along the Great Lakes. It is made of smooth, closely joined, flexible boards, turned up in front by being steam heated. The toboggan lies flat on the ground and may be of any length from six to twelve or even more feet.

The pa.s.sengers squat on furs or other coverings laid flat on the toboggan. The steerer sits behind and controls the direction by a trailing pole and sometimes with one foot.

Many Canadian cities have constructed toboggan slides for the use of the people. The most famous of these is at Montreal. This slide has a "joust" or obstruction at the bottom, which causes the toboggan and its occupants to leap into the air in a way that delights the experts and brings alarm to those who are taking their first ride. But the healthy boy does not limit his winter sports to skates and sleds.

Without either of these appliances no end of fun can be had in the snow itself.

It would be a waste of time to describe s...o...b..lling, which may be made to afford pleasure, but which as too often done brings discomfort to the ones unexpectedly attacked.

A SNOW BATTLE

Now, a snow battle, if properly managed, is a different matter, and calls for that endurance and tact that distinguishes the true soldier.

The two selected captains toss up in the usual manner for first choice of men. Then alternately, as in a spelling bee, each chooses a soldier until all are taken. The taw lines are then drawn, about thirty feet apart, and two flag staffs with colored handkerchiefs for flags are erected in each camp. To bear the enemy's flag to your own camp, that is, over the taw line, wins the victory for your side. Tackling is allowed, as in football, and is limited by the same rules. No boy bearing the mark of a s...o...b..ll on chest or back is allowed to take further part in the game, as he is considered to be a dead soldier, but the dead soldiers may coach their comrades as often as they please. No tripping, no striking, no ice b.a.l.l.s, and no "soakers" (wet s...o...b..a.l.l.s) are allowed.

Snow tag is another good game. Count out for "It." While "It" takes his place at the hub of the wheel, the other players scatter around the circ.u.mference or rim, and the word "ready" is given. "It" then darts out one of the "spoke" paths and endeavors to tag some one of the other boys, and the fun begins. Two cannot pa.s.s each other on the narrow paths, and the fleeing boys often step on each others' heels, trip and tumble head first into the deep snow, forming an easy prey for "It"; but again the lads will dance around in a most provoking manner, and as "It" darts up one spoke toward the rim, the players dart down the other toward the hub, and show great skill in eluding "It."

CHAPTER XXIV

SOME HINTS ON GENERAL ATHLETICS, INCLUDING WALKING, RUNNING AND JUMPING

I do not think the advice I have given, as to the games appropriate for each season would be at all complete, if I did not give some advice that will be useful for all seasons and every day in the year.

To the boy the enjoyment of the sport is the first thing to be considered, but it is not the only thing. Our lives are often affected for good or ill by very little things. Injuries have been received by boys in sport that marred all their after lives.

It is natural for the young to delight in exercise. It is by taking it that they develop, but the development, to be of value, must be along sensible lines.

Every healthy boy wants to be an athlete; wants to excel in some line, and as this ambition is reasonable, it should not be discouraged. The youth eager to win in his sports is not apt to be found lagging when he takes up the more serious business of life.

Compet.i.tion is said to be the life of trade, and it certainly adds greatly to our interest in sports, but the boy who starts in to learn by trying to compete is doomed to failure. There would be more success in the end if we learned to go slower and so became more thorough in the beginning.

There are certain exercises that every athlete must take to have a good physique, and the very first, and by far the most useful of these, is walking.

WALKING

Can you walk? I hear you laughing at the question; but let me change it slightly and ask, "Can you walk properly?"

"Of course I can," you reply. "I walk just like other folks who are not lame."

Now very few people walk properly, and no two people, unless it be soldiers or others who have been drilled to the exercise, walk alike.

Just watch and see for yourself.